Adapting on Your Climb to the Top

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints GuyHere’s an idea to help you cope with added scrutiny as you are promoted. Reading time: 3:13

You’ve reach the C-Suite. You’ve worked hard for this promotion. But something feels awkward.

Filigree

Your once clear and distinct chain of command has morphed into a filigree of complex relationships as former CEO David D’Allesandro writes in his book Executive Warfare.

And now you have to adapt to all of that added scrutiny from the Board to the Stockholders to regulators etc.

Welcome to the C-Suite. Think C for Chameleon more than Corporate.

All leaders no matter at what level learn to adapt to the ever changing working conditions.

They realize flying at this altitude in corporate life they had better be able to sway with the forces in much the same way the wingspan of a 747 jet is designed to sway up and down 29 feet at the tips of the 195 feet wings to cope with the effects of turbulence.

And when you feel alone and isolated on a desert in the C-Suite, you’ll adapt just like the Greasewood—the only plant that drives its roots 40 feet down to find water in Death Valley, the lowest point in US is 252 feet below sea level.

To spark your adaptive skills, let’s see how various aspects of life adapt in Mother Nature for greater survival.

Tomato caterpillar

A tomato caterpillar is green to match the leaves of the tomato plant on which it feeds.

A copper head snake has patches of color that match the jumble of fall leaves on the forest floor.

Ocean birds adapt. They have special nasal glands that remove extra salt from their bodies so they can drink salt water.

Camels adapt. They don’t begin to sweat until the temperature reaches 105 degrees and a camel can tolerate a 30% depletion of water — about three times the tolerance of man.

Penguin

Ostriches adapt. They swallow stones and pebbles to aid digestion.Penguins adapt. They carrying stones in its stomach that act as a ballast to keep the penguin underwater.

A goldfinch had 1,000 more feathers on its body in the winter than in the summer to better sway to the cold. And Ducks have glands that sway like tiny oil cans, making their feathers naturally waterproof.

Adapt on your climb to the top with that kind of ingenuity and innovation.